Daines Statement on Passage of CISPA

Statement

Congressman Steve Daines today released the following statement upon voting in support of H.R. 624, The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which today was passed by the House with strong bipartisan support:

"In Montana, we deeply value our right to individual privacy--so much so, that it's guaranteed in our state's constitution. Unfortunately, those rights and the protection of Montanans' personal information are threatened on a daily basis by mounting cyber-attacks from foreign hackers. Montanans' personal information is being looked at, hacked into and stolen every day. Making sure that the Internet remains open and secure will in turn help protect the privacy rights and civil liberties that Montanans value and deserve. CISPA achieves those goals by providing Americans with the opportunity to voluntarily share their knowledge of a cyber-threat with each other and with government, while also implementing strong measures to protect individuals' privacy and civil liberties."

Daines, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, is the former vice-president of RightNow Technologies, a Bozeman-based software company specializing in cloud computing.

Background on CISPA

There are billions of attempted cyber-attacks each year, many originating in China, Russia and other foreign nations, targeting individuals, critical infrastructure like electric grids and pipelines, small businesses, our banking system, and our government. CISPA will allow for better information sharing between government and the private sector on these attacks and make our nation more flexible and responsive to these threats, ensuring that American businesses' intellectual property and private data is protected so that they can remain competitive.

CISPA provides narrow authority to share anonymous cyber threat information between the government and the private sector so they can protect their networks and their customers' private information. The bill does not require anyone to provide information to or receive information from the government and is entirely voluntary.

Additionally, the bill creates no new authorities for the government to monitor private networks or communications. It does require the Inspector Generals of the Intelligence Community and the Department of Homeland Security to annually review and report on the government's handling and use of information that has been shared by the private sector under this bill to prevent and remedy any instances of abuse and provides clear authority to the Federal Government to undertake reasonable efforts to limit the impact on privacy and civil liberties in the act of sharing the cyber threat information.

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